Improvement in railroad-car brakes



JOHN DAVIS, OF ALLEGHENY CITY, PENNSYLVANIA.

lMPFOVEMENT IN RAILROAD-CAR BRAKES.

Specilicatio'n forming part of Letters Patent N0. 410,332, dated October 20, 1863.

To aZZ whom it may concern: Y

Be it known that I, JOHN' DAVIS, of Allegheny city, in the county of Allegheny and btate ot' Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in lailroadar Brakes; and l do hereby decla-re that 'the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters ot' refe-rence marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in arranging the brakes of railroad cars so that their full force is brought to bearon the wheels the moment that the ears are released from the draft of the locomotive, and also in relieving the wheels from the pressure of the brakes "before the drawingpo'wer of the locomotive is brought, to bear'on the cars, the whole being constructed, arranged, and operated in the manner hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction andoperation.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a sidevview of a car-truck furnished .with my improved brakes. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section ofthe truck and brakes. Fig. 3 is a top view ofthe truck and brakes. Fig. 4 is a top view of a brace4 used in connection with the brakes. Fig. 5 is a side view of a .stop or catch used in connection with the brakes.

' a represents the frame of the truck..

b represents the wheels.

nt-represents the axles.

c represents the brakes, which are attached tothe bars e, which are held in their proper position by means of the guide-plates d, which are braced by the cross-bars j' and are secured to the frame of the truck. To the bars e ,are attached the springs s, which are connected witlreach other by rods l. which are furnished with swivel-links 9 for the purpose of shortening or lengthening the rods, so as to obtain the desired traction of the springs s and brakes c. On the springs s are lugs, to which the .lower end ot the levers p and g are attached,

the fulcrums of which' are on cross-bars f and marked 8. To the upper end of the levers pand q are attached rods j and k, which are attached to a swivel-plate, 5, on the end of the upright piece 14, which rests on the cross-bar i. Through it and the upright piece 14 passes a bolt, fe', which holds the swivel-plate 5am;

of the nut h. The end 13 ot' the stays are attached to the bars e, and the bolt yi passes through the slot 10 ofthe other end. By the use oi' the slot l() the stays can move back and forward with the brakes. To the swivelplate 5 are attached rods m and n, which are held in their position by the pieces marked 3,

and are connected to the car or locomotive by a `coupling-link, t.

gre-presents the ordinary car-bumper.7

y represents the ordinary coupling-link, and y r represents a common coupling-pin.

The T-shaped piece (marked o) and the catch, (marked 7,) in connection with thecord B and pawl Z on the swivel-plate 5, areused ,for the'p'urpose'ot' holdingv they bra-kes oftr'the wheels when so desired. The piece o issecured to the cross-bar l and is furnished with two pulleys, 2.

at 12, ya recess, (marked 10,) and a spring, (marked 4,) on the end of which is a frictionp ulley, 6. By the useot' this'spring the slack of the cord B is taken up, so that the lirst pull on the cord will bring the piece 7 up into the desired position for receiving the pawl Z in the recess w. The cord B passes over the pulleys 2 and under the pulley 6, and may extend from the hindmost car through the whole train/ to the locomotive, so that the engineer can, by means of a lever or other device, have' the power to hold the bra-kes oli' the wheels whenever desired. I

The operation of my improvement is as follows. Having all things constructed and arranged as herein described and represented, I give the desired traction or force to the springs and brakes by turning the swivel-1inks 9, which'will shorten `:the rods l, which will stiffen the springs s, which will bring the brakes c with force on the wheels. The force of thev brakes is taken olf the wheels by the locomotive, which will in its first motion draw forward the link t, which will draw forward the rods m or n, which will turn the plate 5, which will draw the upper end of the levers p and g toward the centerof the truck, which will cause the lower end-of-the'levers tothrowback the bars e,`which will relieve the wheels from the pressure of thelbrakes. The brakerl can be held oli' from the wheels when desires by simply drawing yforward the cord B, which A v n Si the stays t' in the desired position by means The-piece 7 is also attached f to the cross-barl,a11dis furnished with ajoint will raise the piece 7 so that the'roeess w will eateh the pawl Z, as shown at y1l in4 Fig. 3.

The brakes are thrown oni by drawing for-- ward the rod m or fn and slaekening the cord B, so that the piece 7 may drop down and thereby release the pmvl Z.

1t will be readily observed by the skillful mechanic that my improved brakes may be operated by means of the ordinary hand whefel and ratchet now in common use on cars by simply attaching' a piece of chain to the rods m :rnd u and to the shaft of the hand-wheel. When the hand-wheel is used in connection withl vmy improvement, the brakes are thrown with all the force desired on the wheeiby simply unshipping the ratchet, thus bringing the brakes to bea-r on the Wheels in the shortest time possible, which is a. thing much desired in time ot' danger. There is this dit'erenee between 'the operation of my improved brakes and the ordinary brakes now in use--to wit:

The arrangement of the bars e andji'guideplates d, brakes c, springs s, .levers pand g, rods 1, j, 7c, m, and n, swivel-plate 5, pieces o and 7,'and braces fu, the whole being constructed, arranged, and operating' in the manner and by the means herein desexibed, and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN DAVIS.

Witnesses'r JAMES J. JOHNSTON, ALEXANDER HAYS. 

